Vehicles may contain instrument panels located in front of the driver's and passenger's seats. The instrument panels may support various accessories and components including, gages, meters, audio components, video components, navigation accessories and the like. Some instrument panels may be made from polypropylene due to the low cost and recycleability of the material. However, instrument panels constructed of polypropylene may have less rigidity under an applied load compared to instrument panels constructed of other, more expensive materials such as ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) or similar materials commonly used to construct instrument panels. As such, instrument panels constructed of polypropylene are generally unable to support the same loads as instrument panels constructed of ABS or other materials. Further, instrument panels constructed from polypropylene may sag as a result of heat, aging or a combination of both effects. The size of an instrument panel may also affect the rigidity of the instrument panel. For example, vehicles with a highly raked windshield are wider from front to back and, therefore, are generally less rigid in this direction.
Accordingly, a need exists for an instrument panel support and a method of supporting an instrument panel to improve ridgity and prevent sagging due to heat and/or aging.